Mark runkel



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MARK RUNKEL, OF NEV YRK, N. Y.

OSCILLATING ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 23,612, dated April 12, 1859.

To all mme it may concern:

Be it known that l, M,V an RUNKEL, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and improved scillating Engine, and l do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description oi" the same, reference being had to the accompanying` drawings, making a part of this specification, in whiehl Yligure l, represents a vertical longitudinal section or an engine constructed according to my improvements, and Fig. 2, is a plan or top view ot' the saine, the top of the steam chest having been removed, in order to expose the ports.

Similar letters of reference in the two aviews indicate corresponding parts of my engine.

This invention consists in giving an oscillating motion to a piston which works in a stationary shell on the principle of a rotary engine, the steam being admitted alternately on one side or on the other of an abutment which is rigidly attached to the shell and which is so arranged by means of some kind of packing inserted in its lowei edge, that it works steamtight against the upper surface ot the piston which in its turn is provided with two projections, one on each side orn the abutment which work steamtight against the sides of the shell which is open at both ends, the change of the steam being made by a common slide valve or by any other means generally used for oscillating engines so that the piston assumes an oscillating motion which being converted into a rotary motion serves as a motor in the usual manner.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand, use. and construct my invention I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

ri, represents a bed or foundation which supports a segmental shell ll, which is open at both ends, the side plates a, being rigidly attached to the bed A, and these two side plates are united by a curved plate 7), the longitudinal section of which forms part of a circle as clearly shown in `Fig. l. he plates a, form the bearings for a shaft C, the center of which coincides with the center ot' the circular plate Z), and rigidly attached to the shaft C, is the segment D, which is ground steamtight to the side plates c4, but its upper convex suriace at a certain distance from the inner surface of the plate l),

and rigidly attached to this plate is the abutment c, which is filled up with a packing c, so that itworks steam tight on the upper surface of the segment D.

Two projections d, and d, are attached one to each end of the upper surface of the segment D, and these projections are provided with packing e, so that they work steam tight against the inner surface of the plate Z), and against the side plates o, of the shell B. Rigidly attached to the upper part o the shell B, is the steam chest E, which contains the slide valve F, and to which steam is admitted by the steam rires f G, is the exhaust pipe which 'communicates with the steam chest by openings g, and the steam chest communicates with the space am, between the upper surface of the segment D, and the inner surface of the plate I), by means of the steam-ports L, and It', and by the exhaustsports z', and i, the ports 7L, and a', being on one and the ports L, and z", on the other side of the abutmentc.

A, crank H, is rigidly fastened to the shaft C, and this crank communicates with the fly wheel shaft I, by means of a connection rod J, and by a crank j, which is attached to the shaitl, and firmly secured on this shaft is the fly wheel K, and also a cam L, which acts on a slide lll, which communicates with the valve stem 7c, by means of a lever Z, which is attached to a rock-shaft mi and one end ol? which is connected with the valve stem by means of a link 0, and attached to this rockshatt is another lever Z,which connects with the slide M, by means of an arm u. rlhe slide M, works freely on the tly wheel shaft I, and on a guide pin y), by means et slots 0, and 72', and it is provided with. two rounded lips Q, against which the cam L, strikes as it revolves and by these means the slide valve F, is thrown suddenly from one side to the other. l do not want to be understood however as if I was to conhne myself to this method ot admitting and changing the steam, as there are various waysn :in-which l can accomplish the same result, and in tact all the ditlerent methods commonly used with oscillating engines can also be applied to my engine.

The operation is as tollows:-In the position represented in the drawings my engine is represented to work in the direction of the arrows, and steam is admitted through g Y l 23,612

the port 7L the port 7L, being lclosed while l that the exhaust steam offers the least posthe exhaust port e, is closed and the steam on the other side of the abutment passes out by the exhaust pipe z'. By the time the segment D, arrives in a position represented in red outlines in F ig. l, the position of the valve F, is suddenly changed by the action of the cam L, on the slide M and the steamport h, together with the exhaust port z, is thrown open While the ports z', and L, are closed and the segment D, begins to move in the other direction. It will be noticed that the proportion between the crank H, on the shaft C, and between the crank j, on the fly wheel shaft must be such that the latter accomplishes exactly one half of a revolution While the segment D, makes one stroke, and I use the cam L, for changing the position of the slide valve F, because this gives me the advantage to throw the ports open at an instant, so that the full head of steam is admitted on one side while at the same time the exhaust port on the other side is thrown wide open so that the exhaust steam passes out quite freely. At the same time it will be noticed that the exhaust ports are made considerably larger than the steamports so sible resistance to the motion of the segment D. With this arrangement the chief diliiculty existing with all rotary engines, namely to keep the working parts tight, is in a great measure removed, for it will `be observed that it is comparatively very easy to arrange the projections CZ, and lthe abutment c, in such a manner that these parts work perfectly steam tight by means of the packing attached to them, and the sides of the segment D, can be ground to the side plates a, of the shell D, if one or both of these plates are made adjustable, or these sides may also be arranged by means of springs and suitable packing that the joint between them and the side plates is always kept perfectly steamtight.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,

The segment D, with the projections (Z, in combination with the shell'B, and the abutment c, or its equivalent arranged substantially as and for the purpose specified.

M. RUNKEL. lVitnesses:

WM. TUscH, W. HAUFF. 

